Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz by Joe Brusha - Paul's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from Diamond Book Distributors/Zenescope Entertainment on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz
Author: Joe Brusha
Date of Publication: March 18, 2014

Ashley's Review

Synopsis: The world faces a gathering storm that threatens to drown it in darkness. The only hope to stop the coming evil rests on an unlikely hero: a Kansas farm girl named Dorothy Gale. 

Unbeknownst to Dorothy, highborn blood flows through her veins and with it, the power to save Earth and the realms of power that surround it. But Dorothy must first learn to use her unharnessed abilities before the witches of Oz destroy her and everyone else that stands in their way.

Zenescope Entertainment presents another incredible tale of adventure and fantasy with this mesmerizing and epic re-imagining of a classic!

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Review: I always like adaptations or reimaginings of The Wizard of Oz. They vary so much. Some make the story happy and light. Others, like this comic, make the story a lot more adult. As you can tell from the cover, the breasts of all the female characters are all out front. The women's appearances are all very sexualized. The violence is also quite graphic. If you are not looking for a mature graphic novel, you should probably stay away from this comic. 

Aside from the visual, I liked how each of the main characters had new histories. The story follows the general outline of The Wizard of Oz, but more politics and history is added. Although I found this extended world building and character development interesting, a lot of it was told instead of shown. 

Overall, this graphic novel is a fun and sexy retelling of The Wizard of Oz. There isn't anything revolutionary to this novel, but it's a fun, casual read. I rate it a 3/5.

--Paul

Tales From Oz by Dan Wickline, Joe Brusha, & Meredith Finch - Ashley's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from Diamond Book Distributors/Zenescope Entertaiment on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

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Title: Tales from Oz
Author: Dan Wickline, Joe Brusha, & Meredith Finch
Publication Date: April 29, 2014

My Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz Review

Synopsis: Now, the most infamous Oz characters appear in Zenescope's intense, dark, and daring re-imagining of the Oz mythos. The mesmerizing and often times frightening origins of the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, Thane the Lion, and a wolf named Toto are collected together in this epic trade paperback.

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Review: I think I'm on a Wizard of Oz kick right now, because I keep finding all of these interesting new spins on the world and characters of Oz. After reading Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz, I had so many questions about the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow that I thought would never be answered. Then I saw Tales from Oz, and I was really excited! 

Learning about the past of these well-known and beloved characters in the world of Grimm Fairy Tales was really interesting. Their backgrounds have hints of the original stories in them, but are still entirely new and exciting. How the Tin Man loses his heart, how the Scarecrow loses his brain, and why the Lion is so cowardly are all dealt with in magical ways. The Wicked Witches are often involved, and it was really cool to see their transformations. I also enjoyed learning more about Toto - he's not the small little terrier that he's usually portrayed as, and there's next to nothing about his background in the Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz comics. So it was nice to get to see where he came from and how he ended up with Dorothy. 

The artwork was really well done in these comics, and fit the tone of the stories well. Everything is darker than the original Oz books, and the artwork definitely reflects that. I'm not sure I would recommend this for a younger audience though, because the witches and most of the other females wear very little clothing and are drawn to be sexy, so it's probably not appropriate for the younger fans of Oz to read this series. I definitely think it's geared towards the older generations. 

I do with some of the stories had been a little longer and had flowed together more smoothly - I sometimes found myself having to go back a few pages to figure out what in the world had just happened or where transitions had occurred within the stories. Overall though, this was an enjoyable collection of comics that I think any fans of Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz should really read. It adds depth to the more secondary characters and allows us to glimpse their lives before Dorothy came to Oz. A 3/5.


--Ashley

Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz by Joe Brusha - Ashley's Review

*I received this book as an eARC from Diamond Book Distributors/Zenescope Entertainment on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Title: Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz
Author: Joe Brusha
Date of Publication: March 18, 2014

Synopsis: The world faces a gathering storm that threatens to drown it in darkness. The only hope to stop the coming evil rests on an unlikely hero: a Kansas farm girl named Dorothy Gale. 

Unbeknownst to Dorothy, highborn blood flows through her veins and with it, the power to save Earth and the realms of power that surround it. But Dorothy must first learn to use her unharnessed abilities before the witches of Oz destroy her and everyone else that stands in their way.

Zenescope Entertainment presents another incredible tale of adventure and fantasy with this mesmerizing and epic re-imagining of a classic!

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Review: I love reimaginings and retellings, especially ones that have to do with Oz. There's just so much there that can be taken and rewoven and redone into something new and exciting. So, I was really excited when I saw this comic! I've seen these Grimm Fairy Tale comics before, but have never really been interested in reading them. But this one definitely caught my attention.

And I was really not disappointed. Brusha took a popular story with well-known characters and made them all his own. Toto is a ghost wolf. The scarecrow is more intelligent than I've ever seen him, the cowardly lion is a brave soldier with his own secrets, and the tin man is more like a big robot than a man made of tin. The Munchkins are here too, as are all of the scary creatures like the flying monkeys. And of course, what would Oz be without Glinda and the Wicked Witches of the East and West? 

As can be seen from the cover, this comic is definitely sexier and more grown up than L. Frank Baum's original tale. Dorothy and the three Witches wear as little clothing as possible, and it's definitely not practical at all - especially when they go to battle. It's clear that these comics are written for a different audience than the children's books, and I could see how it could be offensive to some people. I didn't really mind since I figured that would be the case going into it... but just be aware that this comic is at least a PG-13 and read at your discretion. There's also some blood and gore and violence, so i's probably not a good read for anyone with a weaker stomach.

I do think I was missing something with the beginning though, and I wish that I had read the other Grimm Fairy Tales to know if I was actually missing something or not. I would imagine that they're all tied together, but I could be wrong. Other than that, this can definitely be read as a standalone, especially if you're familiar with even the first Oz book. I would recommend this to the older crowd (definitely not young YA or MG), especially someone looking for a darker spin on The Wizard of Oz. A 3/5, but I'll be looking for more of these Grimm Fairy Tales comics! 

--Ashley

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Oz #2) by L. Frank Baum - Ashley's Review

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Title: The Marvelous Land of Oz (Oz #2)

Author: L. Frank Baum

Year Published: 1904

Synopsis: First issued in 1904, L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz is the story of the wonderful adventures of the young boy named Tip as he travels throughout the many lands of Oz. Here he meets with our old friends the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, as well as some new friends like Jack Pumpkinhead, the Wooden Sawhorse, the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug, and the amazing Gump. How they thwart the wicked plans of the evil witch Mombi and overcome the rebellion of General Jinjur and her army of young women is a tale as exciting and endearing today as it was when first published over eighty years ago.

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Review: Having read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz earlier this year, I knew I had to continue the journey through the magical land of Oz with this next book. It took me a while to get back into it, but it was definitely worth the time and the read. 

Having never read any of the Oz books, I had no idea what to expect when Dorothy's story ends in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Would we have an entirely new cast of characters? Would we see the Scarecrow or Nick Chopper ever again? Luckily, it was a little of both! New characters, like Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Woggle-Bug are introduced and old favorites make appearances and help our new heroes on their journey. It was interesting to learn more about the characters everyone knows and loves, as well as finding out more of the history of Oz and the wizard and the times before the wizard. 

It might just be because this book is over a century old, but I found some of the language to be a little tedious to get through. There was a lot more exposition than I typically prefer, and I felt like it slowed the plot down quite a bit. This isn't a long book, but it did take me a little while to finish. The plot is simple and definitely good for children. 

If you're a fan of all of the Wizard of Oz retellings and the original story, I definitely recommend reading this book! It's a short, quick read that you could probably knock out on a lazy weekend or something. I would give it a 3/5. 

--Ashley